The gameplay (or lack thereof) simply hasn’t held up. It was bad twenty five years ago and it was bad on the Sega CD (the whole system revolved around this style of play) and it is bad now. Add to this the fact that the HD portion of the game’s title is a misnomer of epic proportions. The crisp animation that I remember seems dull and lifeless on the PC, essentially robbing Dragon’s Lair of the one thing it had going for it in the first place.

Even worse, modern computers run a little fast for Dragon’s Lair. You will probably find yourself dying a horrible death within seconds of an area’s beginning because the flash you were awaiting never seemed to materialize. You may as well just pop some corn and watch the game from start to finish.



Interestingly, this is something you have an option to do. DLHD features a play mode in which you can watch specific scenes or the whole game with or without Dirk’s deaths included. I found this amusing for most of the twenty or so minutes it takes, but it’s definitely not worth the twenty or so dollars that this title costs.

If you’re old enough to remember Dragon’s Lair this title will bring back some of those fond memories, but you’ll probably find that you tire of it much faster than you did in 1983. If you don’t remember the original then there is absolutely no reason to buy this unless you feel you need more proof that your parents are lame.

Review by Michael Triggs.